Don’t look now, but the Minnesota Timberwolves are not quite as easy of a division opponent as they have been in years past. Tonight the Utah Jazz will get their first crack at the young, improved Timberwolves team in the second of a four-game road trip.

We are just over a quarter of the way through the NBA season. Admittedly, there is a lot of time for things to change, but in years passed Minnesota had already been removing themselves from the playoff conversation by this point. This year Minnesota is 9th in the West only a half a game removed from the 8-seed. They have quietly been competing and have won 6 of their last 10 games.

The Jazz enters the game on a 4-game winning streak having won 8 of their last 10 games. They have been hot lately shooting above 40% from three in each of their games during the win streak. In fact, the Jazz shot a blistering hot 50% or better in two of their last four games.

This game will be a battle of experience (a nice way of saying age) versus youth. The Jazz are the third oldest team in the NBA with an average age of 28.1 years young. On the flip side, the Timberwolves are the third-youngest team in the NBA win an average age of 24.3 years young.

Generally speaking, more experienced teams are usually in their championship window while younger teams are in the midst of a rebuild. After rebuilding for years, the Timberwolves have a talented core of young players headlined by the names D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, and Karl-Anthony Towns. On the other side of things, the Jazz has been a playoff team for years and are certainly in their championship window.

This means the Jazz are the favorites for tonight’s game and in reality, they should be able to win, but they will need to come out with energy because the Timberwolves are young and scrappy and will not go down easily. If the Jazz doesn’t show up in Minnesota with some juice, it could be the end of their winning streak.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, December 8th, 2021, 6:00 PM MT

Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN

TV: ATTSN-RM, NBA TV

Radio: 97.5/1280 The Zone, or listen on the Utah Jazz app